Vanished States: the One-Month Life of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (1918)

Transcaucasian Ruble, 1918, with
Armenian, Georgian and Azeri text, 917

A few years back, I started a series on "Vanished States," short-lived entities in the 20th century Middle East; I did posts on the Republic of Hatay (1938-39), the Syrian Arab Kingdom under Faisal (four months in 1920), the Hashemite Kingdom of the Hejaz (1916-1925), and the Rifian Republic (1921-1926) With this post, I'm returning to the theme.

The last two years of World War I and the several years following it were a time of the breaking of empires. The first of the transnational empires was that of Tsarist Russia, beginning March 8, 1917, the "February Revolution" (Russia was on the Julian calendar).

The Provisional Government in Petrograd soon appointed a "Special Transcaucasian Committee," responsible for the areas south of the ridgeline of the Caucasus, comprising the modern states of Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan.

At the time of the February Revolution, bear in mind that Russian forces were actively engaged against the Ottomans on the Armenian front, as well as operating in northwestern Persia.With the Revolution, there were widespread desertions on all fronts.

Areas occupied Sept. 1917

The Special Transcaucasian Committee took over administration in Transcaucasia and in Turkish territory that had been occupied during the war, This occupied zone was governed by local Armenian councils and referred to as Western Armenia and other terms.

The representatives on the Transcaucasus Committee were Mensheviks, members of the non-Leninist wing of the Social Democratic Party, who dominated the Provisional Government.

Evgeni Gegechkori

Then came the October Revolution on November 7 of the new calendar, when Lenin and the Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd. On November 11, 1917, at Tbilisi, a Transcaucasian Commissariat was proclaimed, making the Transccaucasus nominally independent of Petrograd. It was chaired by the Georgian Menshevik Evgeni Gegechkori.

In January 1918, in an attempt to strengthen the tentative union, it was decided to create a Sejm or Parliament. In December, the Armistice of Erzincan with Turkey was endorsed by the Commissariat.

Chkeidze

The Sejm was led by Nikolay Chkeidze, another Georgian.

On March 3, 1918, the Russian Government signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. This called for the return to Turkey of its conquered territories. In negotiations in Trabzon, a delegation from the Sejm agreed to accept Brest-Litovsk as a basis for settlement, but this was rejected by the main Sejm in Tbilisi. Instead, on April 22, 1918, they declared the full independence of the Democratic Federative Republic of Transcaucasia, and also declared that it remained in a state of war with the Ottoman Empire.

The Flag

Unfortunately, the Democratic Federative Republic of Transcaucasia's name was longer than its duration as an independent state. With the collapse of the Russian Caucasus Army and Brest-Litovsk, the Transcaucasus cobbled together a Military Council of Nationalities of Armenian volunteers and Georgian and Azerbaijani troops. These untrained levies were no match for the Ottoman Third Army, which retook Kars and Erzurum and continued to advance on the Armenian front.

Anyone who has followed the Caucasus since the fall of the Soviet Union will not be surprised by what happened after the fall of Tsarist Russia. The existence of enclaves of one ethnicity within the boundaries of another (Nagorno-Karabakh, Nakhichevan) was explosive then as now.

Remember, too, that in April-May 1918, World War I was very much still under way, and Germany and the Ottomans were very much still allies.

As the Ottoman Third Army advanced against Armenia and began to demand Tbilisi, Georgia negotiated a treaty with Germany, promising protection. Azerbaijan, meanwhile, chose to ally with its Turkic cousins in the Ottoman Empire.

On May 26, Georgia declared independence as the Democratic Republic of Georgia and proceeded to sign its treaty with Germany. Two days later, Armenia followed suit (the First Armenian Republic) and so did Azerbaijan. The Democratic Federative Republic had lasted from April 22 to May 28, 1918. Except for imposed entities under Soviet rule, the only real attempt at a Transcaucasian federation was virtually stillborn. Soon the three nationalities would be fighting each other, and the Bolsheviks, and Armenia would be fighting the Turks. There would be British intervention as well. But that is another story.

Greetings for Armenian Christmas Today, and Orthodox Christmas Tomorow

In the Middle East, Christmas is a gift that keeps on giving. Christmas doesn't come just once a year but up to four times depending on how ecumenical you want to be. The Armenian churches outside the Holy Land celebrate on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6. (Except in the Holy Land when they mark it in the  Julian calendar.) Merry Christmas to those celebrating.

Most of the Orthodox Christian Churches, Oriental Orthodox, and the Church of the East celebrate Christmas on December 25 in the Julian Calendar, which currently equates to January 7 in the Gregorian, so a Merry Christmas to them tomorrow.

Fear not: it's still not over. Armenians in Jerusalem and Bethlehem will celebrate on August 18-19, Epiphany (known to Eastern churches as the Theophany) under the Julian calendar.

April 24, 1915

Armenian deportees, April 1915 (Wikipedia)

"Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation (Vernichtung) of the Armenians?"

—Adolf Hitler to the Wehrmacht on the eve of invading Poland, 1939

April 24, 1915, was a critical moment for the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Allied navies were gathered just outside the Dardanelles and on the next day, April 25, would land at Gallipoli. In the east, Russian advances into the Empire's Armenian region had already provoked an Ottoman crackdown in Van, which in turn led local Armenians to create self-defense forces to defend themselves. Fighting erupted in the city of Van, which the Ottomans  characterized as a revolt, on April 17. When the Russian Army sought to advance to relieve Van, this further convinced the Ottoman authorities that the Armenian population was what it a later war would be called a Fifth Column.

There is evidence that the decision to begin the arrest and deportation of Armenians had already been decided on before April 24, but that date, a century ago today, came to be identified by Armenians as the beginning of the agony. It was the date on which more than 200 Armenian intellectuals in Constantinople were arrested, removing much of the leadership of the Armenian community in thee capital; it became known as "Red Sunday."

The death of 1.5 million people as a direct result of state action seems to most people to meet the definition of genocide under international law, but the persistent refusal of the Turkish Republic to accept the use of the term, and to continue to protest its use by others, has kept a century-old wound still fresh in both Armenia and the diaspora. But Armenians have not forgotten.

The "G-Word": God Help Me, the Pope and Kim Kardashian (!) Agree on Something (and Barack Obama is Hedging)

Let's be clear. I have never seen Keeping Up With the Kardashians. I do not understand why, other than certain physical attributes and a notorious videotape, Kim Kardashian is famous or rich. I know more about the Cardassians on Star Trek than the Kardashians.

I also never thought I would begin a sentence with "Like Pope Francis, Kim Kardashian ..." but I am, in fact about to do so.

Here goes: Like Pope Francis, Kim Kardashian is not afraid to use the "G-word" for the Armenian massacres, but Barack Obama remains unwilling.

I'll probably catch flak from Turkish readers, but tomorrow is Armenian Remembrance Day, and the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians, large numbers of Assyrians, Anatolian and Pontic Greeks, and other minorities is a human tragedy of the first order. The Turkish Republic's persistent refusal to accept the term "genocide" has always struck me as a bit puzzling: why not just say "that was the Ottomans, not us"?

Anyway, as this website notes, "One of the world's most influential figures focused media attention on the Armenian Genocide of 1915 last week. The pope talked about it, too."

Kardashian, of course, is of Armenian origin and apparently is very popular in Yerevan. 

More tomorrow, on the anniversary of "Red Sunday."

April is the Cruelest Month: Turkey to Mark Gallipoli Anniversary Beginning on Armenian Remembrance Day

April is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain. 

T,S. Eliot, The Waste Land

April 1915 was a very cruel month, and a century later some of its bitter memory still haunts.

Next week, two of the most iconic anniversaries of the Great War occur, and I'll blog in detail then, but the bitter legacy has already reared its head.

April 24, 1915, known as "Red Sunday," was the day the Ottoman Empire arrested and expelled Armenian intellectuals from Constantinople. It is seen by Armenians everywhere as marking the beginning of what became the mass deportations and deaths, which they consider genocide, a term Turkey refuses to apply.

The next day, April 25, will mark the centennial of the landings at Gallipoli. In Australia and New Zealand, it is ANZAC Day, a major patriotic holiday.

Gallipoli is also celebrated by Turkey as a great victory, but until this year they have celebrated it on March 18, the day of the failed naval attack on the Dardanelles.

But this year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan decided to mark Gallipoli by inviting world leaders to mark the day, not on March 18, or even on the equally logical April 25, but on April 24 and 25. Thus coinciding in part with Armenian Remembrance Day.

There have been times in recent years when Erdoğan seemed more open to acknowledging the Armenian tragedy, if not using the word genocide. But this seems to throw down a gauntlet, to throw salt in a very much still-open wound, and Armenians are of course outraged. But it's encountering criticism in Turkey as well, as in this piece in Today's Zaman (though Zaman, traditionally seen as supporting the Gülen movement, is no admirer of Erdoğan).

Given the fact that just yesterday was Shoah Remembrance Day in Israel, though the Turkish scheduling plan was made some weeks ago, I sense a big PR disaster in the making, drawing more attention to the Armenian events rather than diverting it away. It's been suggested Erdoğan changed the schedule to give him an excuse for not attending commemorations in Yerevan, but it seems to have backfired.

The Other Middle East War in 1914: The Bergmann Offensive in the Caucasus

In my recent preview of coming attractions for my centennial seties on the First World War in the Middle East, I noted that the front between the Ottoman and Russian Empires in the Caucasus was little known in the West. Yet some of the hardest fighting the Ottoman Army endured in that war was against the Russian Army in the Transcaucasus. If this Turkish Eastern Front has any resonance among Western readers it is almost exclusively due to the fate of the Armenians (which I have no intention of avoiding as we discuss the centennial of the Great War). But this part of Turkey's war lasted longer than the others, due to the upheavals in the Transcaucasus after the Russian Revolution. Now, as it happens, I read neither Turkish nor Russian. And while the British Official Histories often provide extensive translation of Turkish.. Before Turkey's entry into the war, Russia had been stripping the Caucasus front of troops to reinforce the Eastern Front with Germany, where things had gone badly since the Battle of Tannenberg in August.

As a result, Russian forces in the theater were outnumbered by their Ottoman counterparts. This did not dissuade Russia from taking the offensive since, like Turkey's enemies (and even its ally Germany) they had a low esteem for Turkey's military abilities. They would learn, as the British would at Kut and Gallipoli, that whatever the weaknesses of Ottoman leadership, the soldiers were another matter. Russia did not even wait for its own November 2 declaration of war, but crossed the border on November 1, 1914.

Let me note that the borders were not those of today. Russia had taken the Armenian areas around Yerevan (now part of Armenia) from Persia in the early 19th century and the area around Kars (now part of Turkey) after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78.

Georgy Eduardovich Bergmann

The initial Russian operations were commanded by the First Caucasian Army Commander, General Georgy Eduardovich Bergmann. (Also Bergman and, since the Cyrillic spelling is Берхман, it even occasionally appears as Berhman.) He has no English Wikipedia page but does have a Russian one. In Western histories the first Russian thrust tends to be known as the Bergmann  Offensive. His main base was Kars. He had little experience of field command.

Hasan Izzat Pasha

Opposing him, and commanding the Ottoman Third Army, was Hasan Izzat Pasha (modern Turkish, Hasan İzzet Paşa, later Hasan İzzet Arolat), a veteran of the Balkan Wars, based in Erzerum.

Wikipedia's article on the Bergmann Offensive has a decent map of the operation, though why a map on a campaign between Russia and Turkey is captioned in Spanish is a bit of a puzzle.
At dawn on November 2 the main Russian forces crossed the border. Bergmann was in command in the center, leading off from Sarakamish in the direction of Köprüköy, while a brigade under General Istomin moved on his right toward Id, and a Cossack force under Gen. Nikolai Baratov moved on his left. toward the Aras River.

After pushing through light resistance from Turkish border troops, the Russian advance reached a point 17 miles inside Turkish territory. But on November 5, Bergmann decided to push on towards Köprüköy.

As it happened, the Ottoman War Minister Enver Pasha had ordered Hasan Izzat to take the offensive, and he counterattacked with elements of the Third Army's IXth and XIth Corps. They met the Russians on November 6. The next day the Russians took Köprüköy and the bridge over the Aras, but then encountered trouble. They were outnumbered and the Turks held the heights around the town in strength.On November 11 Izzat attacked with four infantry divisions and a cavalry division along both banks of the Aras, turned Bergmann's flank and recaptured the town.Bergmann retreated to the line he had reached on the 4th.

But after this the tables turned. The Russians reinforced and counterattacked, and the local Turkish commander decided he was outnumbered and decided yo retreat. The Turkish armies lacked telephone communications and neither side grasped the situation.  The Russians did not detect the Turkish retreat and did not capitalize on it.

The next major engagement would come at Sarakamish in December. By then the winter snows had arrived.

The Armenian Churches of India

The Armenian Diaspora is broad and in some cases quite ancient, but were you aware of the network of Armenian churches in India? I certainly wasn't. From the website of the Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy in Kolkata (ex-Calcutta). They do get around. I'm not sure now where I got this link (though probably via an Armenian friend on social media somewhere), but thanks, and in time for Christmas.

From the site:

1707

ARMENIAN HOLY CHURCH OF NAZARETH, KOLKATA

2 Armenian Street, Kolkata – 700 001, WB, India

Among all the Armenian Apostolic churches in India, The Armenian Holy Church of Nazareth, the oldest Armenian church in Kolkata, plays a unique and important role as it is considered to be the Mother Church of the Indian Armenians. St. John’s Church, the first Armenian church was built by the contribution of the people, on June 22, 1688. But, unfortunately, being a wooden structure, the church was completely destroyed by a devastating fire in 1707. Seventeen years later, in 1724, The Holy Church of Nazareth was built on the old burial ground of the Armenian community by Agha Nazar, hence its name, Nazareth’s church. The architect was an Armenian from Iran named Mr. Levon Ghevond. The belfry and the steeple were added ten years later in 1734 by Mr. Manuel Hazarmall. In 1763 the church was repaired and renovated by Khojah Petros Arratoon, who also embellished the church and built two altars, one on the right hand side of the main altar, in memory of his brother Gorgin Khan, the Minister and Commander-in-Chief of Nawab Mir Kasim of Bengal (1760-1763) and the other on the left hand side, in his own memory. Khojah Petros Arratoon was called “the earthly god of the Armenians in Calcutta” by Joseph Emin. In 1789, Agha Catchik Arakiel presented an English clock to the church which he had ordered from the firm of Alexander Hare of London. The clock arrived in Kolkata in 1792 and was fixed in the clock tower, but Arakiel, who built the surrounding walls and added the houses for the clergy, did not live to see it as he passed away on July 25, 1790. A special feature of the churchyard is the tomb of Rezabeebeh, the wife of the late Sookias. This tomb, dated July 21, 1630 is said to be the earliest Christian tomb in Kolkata.

The Armenian Deportations, 98 Years On

Today is marked by Armenians worldwide as Armenian Genocide Day; it is also an official holiday in the Republic of Armenia. On April 24, 1915, the Ottoman authorities rounded up leading Armenians in Constantinople ,beginning the process that would, over several years, lead to deportations and deaths on a mass scale.

The next day, British, French, and ANZAC forces landed at Gallipoli.

Nearly a century after the fact, and 90 years after the end of the Ottoman Empire, the question if whether it is appropriate to refer to the tragedy as a genocide continues to be a subject of often very heated rhetoric between Turks and Armenians. Turkey actively lobbies other countries to dissuade them from recognizing the events as genocide, though the Turkish Republic had not yet been established. I see little to gain by plunging into this thoroughly rehashed and studied subject, except to note that large number died (Assyrians and Greeks as well as Armenians), and that today is the day they are memorialized.

On a related note, Akiva Eldar looks at the ambivalent feelings in Israel about the Armenian massacres.

Armenians being marched under guard, April 1915

Armenian Christmas/Orthodox Christmas Eve

Today in the Latin Christian calendar is the Feast of the Epiphany, "the twelfth day of Christmas," (and I hope all those drummers drumming aren't keeping you up). More to our point here, it's also the day Armenian Christians outside the Holy Land celebrate the Nativity. (Those in the Holy Land have to wait twelve more days.)

For different reasons (the Gregorian/Julian calendar difference), tonight marks Christmas Eve and tomorrow Christmas Day in the tradition of the Orthodox and most other Eastern churches, so greetings to all whose celebration is today, tonight, or tomorrow.

The Coptic Christmas hymn E Parthenos, (the virgin: parthenos  is of course from Greek), with . English subtitles.

Articles on Egypt's Armenian and Jewish Communities

The Egypt Independent has started a series on Egypt's minority communities. So far it has dealt with the well-established Armenian community and the tiny remnant still present of Egypt's once large and influential Jewish community. It's good and rather rare to see Egyptian media (albeit in English) paying attention to minority issues.

"Mideast UFO" Captivates Social Media; Turns Out to Be Russian Missile Test

I think it was Ronald Reagan who once reflected that one thing that would end our geopolitical rivalries would be an alien invasion. Any hopes that Middle East tensions would be relieved by the arrival of aliens has faded, however, now that it appears the great "Mideast UFO" last night was nothing but a Russian ICBM test.

I have several things I'm working on that will turn up on the blog in the coming days, but I can't think of a better way to segué into the weekend than a good UFO story. Or even a so-so UFO story.

Actually, I shouldn't be so flippant. Many people in Syria thought the regime was launching a chemical weapons attack, a reminder that even something relatively harmless (and distant) can nevertheless cause panic in a tense situation. This Storify collection on the phenomenon, put together by Andy Carvin and giving a good view of the Twitter evolution on the story, includes tweets like these:

Now to the actual sighting. Let's start with this:


Some may recall a similar "spiral UFO" from Norway in 2009 that turned out to be a failed Russian missile test. So, apparently, is this one, though Russia claims the test hit its target in Kazakhstan, and space expert James Oberg explains here that the spiral is created by a roll aimed at dumping fuel before impact, so the test may have been successful. Although supposedly the missile impacted in Kazakhstan, it was apparently high enough above the horizon to appear nearly overhead in Turkey, Armenia, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel, among others.

You can find reportage and more videos at The Huffington Post, Zeinobia's Egyptian Chronicles blog, Zeinobia also tweeted a particularly Egyptian angle to the UFO:

So it appears this dramatic phenomenon was another Russian missile test, but it clearly caused a ruckus in the Middle East, especially in Syria, where rumors of a chemical weapons attack alarmed a great many people. But the aliens were just Russians this time.

Links: Odds and Ends

Here's a  Monday grab bag of the interesting, the odd, the funny, and stuff I can't find anyplace else for:

• From The Arabist: "Of Course Omar Suleiman's Office is Entirely Black."  And judging from the picture he reprints, it really is.

• Hurriyet Daily News: "Turkey 'Acquitted' of 1915 Incidents in Malta."  (Hat tip to Abu Reyhan al-Biruni via Facebook.) I'm not making this up: Turkey's EU Minister says Ottoman officials were investigated by the British on Malta after World War I and werte "acquitted" of the Armenian Genocide (the latter two words in quotes of course in a Turkish paper), so that proves it didn't happen. Well, now that that's finally settled . . .

• Geocurrents: "Circassians in Israel." Focusing on two Circassian villages in northern Israel.

• The always useful CairObserver blog: "Cathedral of Abbasiyya: "a Masterpiece in the Center og Cairo." The Coptic Cathedral of Saint Mark, seat of the Coptic Pope.

• Ahram Online: "Is Sham El-Nesim Against Islam?" More on Salafi attempts to promote a boycott of today's spring holiday in Egypt. Apparently, though, it didn't work and turnouts were normal or better.

For the Season: Fairuz Sings Jingle Bells in Arabic

Since Christmas Eve is a week from tonight, I thought I'd start some seasonal postings. Though the number of Middle Eastern Christians is declining, and Bethlehem itself now has a Muslim majority (but still a Christian mayor), Christmas is obviously not just a seasonal thing for Bethlehem but a year-round source of tourism and pilgrimage. And the other thing is you get to celebrate it twice, or in Jerusalem, three times: Latin Christmas December 25, Orthodox/Coptic Christmas January 7, and Armenian Christmas, normally celebrated on January 6, in Jerusalem and Palestine celebrated according to the old calendar, which coincides these days with January 18. (I've also known Muslims who celebrated on the theory that it is a birthday of a great Muslim Prophet, but recently TV preacher Sheikh Qaradawi has been a grinch on the subject.)

I'll be posting other reflections as the three Christmases approach. To start things off, an oldie but a goodie (she's 74 or 75 now — oddly, a single Wikipedia article lists both 1934 and 1935 as her birthdates — so besides the fact the clip is black and white, it's pretty old), the great Lebanese singer Fairuz doing Jingle Bells in Arabic (worth listening to even if you don't know Arabic: she's one of the greatest* Arab female vocalists ever):



*A note to all my Egyptian friends: Please note I said "one of the greatest." Oum Kulthum will be discussed some other time, and never did any Christmas carols that I know of. Fairuz is still alive. Oum K. is an ascended master whom I do not intend to slight in the least._

Soccer Diplomacy

Turkey and Armenia held their soccer game today, and despite some concerns about Azeri flags and other such issues, it seems to have gone off all right, but there are protests in Yerevan over concessions to the Turks (and as I noted earlier, Armenian American groups aren't happy either).

Armenia/Turkey: Now, Soccer?

Back from the three day weekend: a couple of quick observations, then I've got Journal work ahead of me, but more perhaps by afternoon.

The Armenian President is due to travel to Turkey for a soccer game tomorrow if all goes well (which, given the fact that the signing of the protocols between Turkey and Armenia went rather less well than expected — a delay in which Secretary of State Clinton had to return to her hotel, tyhen no signing statements or joint communique — suggests we should not hold our breath. Still, the two countries are actually being almost civil to each other.

My E-mail inbox is full of Armenian-American groups explaining how Turkey has bullied poor little Armenia into this deal, and how Armenian Americans reject it . . .

And if I've learned anything in a career in this field, it's that you can express yourself pretty freely on Israeli-Palestinian issues, and still enjoy some respect from both sides, but you can't touch Turkish/Armenian issues without being promptly blown to shreds by both sides, so I merely note the events that have occurred.

More later.